Salt Lake Magazine November/ December 2000
Whether he’s racing his motorcycle across the desert or catering an event for six hundred, Sean Wharton makes life an adventure. For the ten years prior to buying the Gateway Grille in 1997, he was an executive chef at Deer Valley during the winter; worked in a restaurant that primarily featured New Orleans/ Caribbean/ French cuisine in Cape May, New Jersey, during the summers; and took continuing education classes at the Culinary Institute of America in the fall, Newly married with a boy on the way, he decided his frenetic lifestyle had to go. On a hunch, he drove out to the tiny town of Kamas and discovered a building and equipment that would allow him to go out on his own.
“Everybody thought I was crazy, “ Wharton says, referring to his decision to purchase the Gateway Grille. “But I was so dumb that I wasn’t scared. I didn’t realize how much money a business can eat up.” For the first year, knives were snatched up at garage sales, wine was served in paper cups, and Wharton cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner-not to mention paying the bills and being the maintenance guy. He now has a staff of thirty, allowing him to devote his attention to “family and fine dining in a casual country atmosphere,” and to becoming Park City’s premier caterer. Wharton’s specialty is seafood, as you can see in his recipe for horseradish-crusted baby rack of Tuna with cilantro-lime dipping sauce.
